1897 in the United States

Events from the year 1897 in the United States.

Incumbents

Federal government">Federal government of the United States">Federal government

President:
[Vice President of the United States|President of the United States|Vice President]:
Chief Justice: Melville Fuller
Speaker of the House of Representatives: Thomas Brackett Reed
Congress: 54th, 55th

Events

January–March

January 2 - Alpha Omicron Pi sorority is founded at Barnard College in New York City
January 23 - Elva Zona Heaster is found dead in Greenbrier County, West Virginia. The resulting murder trial of her husband is perhaps the only capital case in United States history, where spectral evidence helps secure a conviction.
February 19 – United States Copyright Office established as a department in the Library of Congress.
February 22 – Black Hills National Forest is established.
March 4 – William McKinley is sworn in as the 25th president of the United States, and Garret Hobart is sworn in as the 24th vice president of the United States.
March 9 – Cordelia A. Greene Library is established in Castile, New York

April–June

April 19 – The first Boston Marathon is run, with fifteen men competing, and won by John McDermott.
April 27 – Grant's Tomb is dedicated in New York.
May 1 – The Tennessee Centennial Exposition opens in Nashville, for 6 months, illuminated by many electric lights.
June 1 – American miners begin a strike, which successfully establishes the United Mine Workers Union and brings about the 8-hour work day to mines.
June 2 – Mark Twain, responding to rumors that he is dead, is quoted by the New York Journal as saying, "The report of my death was an exaggeration."

July–September

July 17 – The Klondike Gold Rush begins when the first successful prospectors arrive in Seattle. On July 25 Jack London sails to join the Rush.
July 31 – Mount Saint Elias, the second highest peak in the United States and Canada, is first ascended.
August 21 – Oldsmobile is founded in Lansing, Michigan by Ransom E. Olds.
August 31 – Thomas Edison is granted a patent for the Kinetoscope, a precursor of the movie projector.
September 1 – The Boston subway opens, becoming the first underground metro in North America.
September 10 – Lattimer Massacre: A sheriff's posse kills more than 19 unarmed immigrant miners in Pennsylvania.
September 21 – In response to a letter written by 8-year-old Virginia O'Hanlon, The Sun (New York City) publishes an editorial by Francis Pharcellus Church stating, "Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus".

October–December

October 4 – Columbia University opens its new campus in New York City.
October 12 – The USS Baltimore is recommissioned, since 1890, for several months of duty in the Hawaiian Islands.
October 23 – The Kappa Delta sorority is founded at State Female Normal School, later Longwood University, in Farmville, Virginia.
November 1 - The [Thomas Jefferson Building|Library of United States Congress|Congress Building] in Washington, D.C., designed by Paul J. Pelz, is opened.

Undated

Elbridge Ayer Burbank begins painting portraits of Native Americans in the United States from life.
Women photographers Zaida Ben-Yusuf and Gertrude Käsebier open portrait studios in New York City.Florist's Review trade magazine is founded.
The Auburn University Marching Band is created at Auburn University in Auburn, Alabama.
The Duke University Debating Society is founded.

Ongoing

Births

January 3 - Marion Davies, film actress
February 7 - Quincy Porter, composer
February 21 - Elizabeth Harrison Walker, lawyer, daughter of President Benjamin Harrison
February 27 - Marian Anderson, African American contralto
March 2 - Minor Hall, jazz drummer
March 4 - Lefty O'Doul, baseball player and restaurateur
March 6 - John D. MacArthur, businessman and philanthropist
March 8 - Charles W. Brooks, U.S. Senator from Illinois from 1940 to 1949
March 11 - Henry Cowell, composer
March 15 - Jackson Scholz, sprinter
March 24 - Theodora Kroeber, writer and anthropologist
March 31 - Harold Houser, admiral, 35th Governor of American Samoa
April 9 - John B. Gambling, radio talk-show host
April 26 - Eddie Eagan, Olympic gold medal boxer and bobsledder
April 29 - Charles Seel, actor
May 6 - William A. Purtell, U.S. Senator from Connecticut in 1952 and from 1953 to 1959
May 14 - Sidney Bechet, African American jazz saxophonist
June 6 - Homer E. Capehart, U.S. Senator from Indiana from 1945 to 1963
June 15 - Mary Ellis, actress
July 9 - Albert C. Wedemeyer, U.S. Army general
July 10 - John Gilbert, silent film actor
July 20 - Tom Dickinson, American football player
July 24 - Amelia Earhart, aviation pioneer and author
July 25 - Helen Shaw, actress
July 26 - Harold D. Cooley, politician, member of the U.S. House of Representatives from North Carolina
August 10 - John W. Galbreath, businessman
September 16 - Milt Franklyn, musical composer and arranger
September 17 - Earl Webb, baseball player
September 24 - Lee Fenner, American footballer
September 25 - William Faulkner, novelist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1949
October 21 - Lloyd Hughes, actor
October 22 - Marjorie Flack, children's author
October 30 - Hope Emerson, actress and strongwoman
November 2 - Richard Russell, Jr., U.S. Senator from Georgia from 1933 to 1971
November 8 - Dorothy Day, journalist and social activist
November 9 - Harvey Hendrick, baseball player
December 25 - Dorothy Peterson, actress

Deaths

June 14 1897 Juan Domingo Montoya civil war combat veteran. Mosquero canyon, New Mexico. Valverde, glorieta pass
April 10 - Daniel W. Voorhees, U.S. Senator from Indiana from 1877 to 1897
April 23 - John Henry Raap, Chicago entrepreneur and retailer
August 14 - James Z. George, U.S. Senator from Mississippi from 1881 to 1897
October 3 - Samuel J. R. McMillan, U.S. Senator from Minnesota from 1875 to 1887
October 11 - Charles W. Jones, Ireland-born U.S. Senator from Florida from 1875 to 1887
October 29 -
* Henry George, writer, politician and political economist
* William J. Babcock, Medal of Honor recipient
October 31 - Richard Von Albade Gammon, University of Georgia football fullback
November 3 - Thomas Lanier Clingman, North Carolina congressman, senator and confederate general